Ten hut! Welcome to boot camp, soldier! You’re here to become the greatest Shroom-killing machine the world has ever seen!
That’s right; the Shrooms. We don’t know where they came from, but all we know is that they’ve come ’round from the stars beyond to infest our planet and take it for their own. With our own allies, as well as the human race, we’ve stepped up to form the Resistance and fight back! The only fun-guys are the dead guys, and it’s time for you to join us in becoming a part of Autogun Heroes!
Nitro Games Oyj, the same makers of NERF: Superblast, brings you an action-packed adventure to reclaim a fallen world from the hostile Shroom invaders, Autogun Heroes. Jump right into the boots of a member of the Resistance and prepare to turn some Shrooms into mush. Dodge spore projectiles, acid, and many other hazards as you return fire and liberate territories from the fungus menace!
But this ain’t all fun and games where you stand, soldier. The Shrooms are multiplying and we could only have the best of the best on our side. So if you’re just starting out (or, if you’re a merc that’s lost their way and can’t remember basic training), then you’ve come to the right place! Lace up those combat boots and read our beginner’s guide below, let’s kick some Shroom butt!
A Brief Overview of Autogun Heroes
We’re sure you’ve heard the names Bill Rizer, Lance Bean, Marco Rossi, and Tarma Rover. But just in case you haven’t, we’ll tell you anyway!
The operations in Autogun Heroes are very much inspired by old titles like Contra and Metal Slug. You’re built to be a one-man army against hordes of nasty enemies (the Shrooms, in particular), and your job is to make it all the way to the end of the mission and survive. The names we mentioned earlier are pretty much the heroes of the two titles we’re comparing Autogun Heroes to.
Now, this doesn’t mean that Autogun Heroes is the same. With your trusty gun, you’ll be mowing down the hostile alien Shrooms of different sizes. Some of them will be smaller and harder to hit, and others are ginormous boss Shrooms. The latter of which will be found within every other segment of the mission, but the biggest ones are found at the very end of each mission. Lock and load!
Much like titles like Archero, Otherworld Legends, and Soul Knight, Autogun Heroes is a roguelite. This means that as you progress, the enemies become increasingly more powerful, but that isn’t without you getting stronger. It’s equally a similar experience as well!
After every other section, you will be given a Battle Mod to add to your performance. These Mods change the way your gun behaves, your overall performance, and more! You’ll get grenades, extra jumps, a faster gun, better accuracy, just think of all the possibilities, soldier. Line up the right Mods and you’ll turn into the super soldier you’ve always dreamed of becoming. But fights ain’t easy, and we’ll get to talking about Mods in-depth later.
For now, we’re sure you’re trying to remember your basics. But that’s why you’re here, ain’tcha? Don’t worry. We got you covered!
Shroom Slaying 101
Fighting for the Homeworld is a noble task, that it is. But with our supplies at an all-time low and soldiers dead and gone, you and a handful of other mercs are the last hope we have. The only good Shroom is a dead Shroom, so prepare to shoot anything that moves (except for Captain Kole, of course, he’s out there to help you).
1. Dodge Enemy Fire
When you’ve got incoming, don’t just stand there! Get outta the way!
Using the left joystick to run around is one thing, but it really pays if you time where you’re going when the enemy bullets start raining. Most bullets travel in straight lines, but there are a few exceptions;these being purple bullets that will try to follow you after being fired. But regardless of their colors, green, blue, yellow, silver, they’re always bad news! Try not to get covered in volatile goop when you make it back to camp.
To dodge bullets properly, first you’ve gotta pay attention to their flight speed. Once you see them coming at you, try to find a gap in the flight pattern before you take damage!
You can try to outrun them if they’re falling or even jump over them if they’re flying directly at you. Some projectiles fly faster than others, like the ones from the Sniper Shrooms, but those are telegraphed. This means, you’ll get a chance to dodge the trajectories of the bullets before they’re even fired. Look out!
When all else fails and you find it hard to dodge, take cover!
2. Take Cover Behind Obstacles
If the Shrooms are raining bullets on you, and it’s impossible to dodge these, where do you go now? Easy, soldier!
The best way you can get outta that deathtrap is to find the sturdiest form of cover there is, and that’s behind obstacles. We’re talking about walls, ledges, platforms, and crates! Though, we ought to warn you that crates aren’t as reliable. They’re pretty rickety, and staying behind them for too long will blow your cover.
There are, however, some things you have to know about platforms. If the platforms are thicker than the others, those are places where you can hide from bullets. If they’re bridges, floating logs, wooden planks, or anything thin like that, then you’d better think twice! Hiding behind this will do you more harm than help since all of the bullets coming at you will go through these thin platforms. Get moving and find a better place to hide!
Sometimes there are raised mounds of ground that you can hide behind. The catch here is that you’ll need to jump out of it to shoot back at your target. Timing is key. You don’t want a face full of goop by sticking out for too long. Once you see the enemy shooting back, dive right behind the mound. Lather, rinse, repeat!
Though, sometimes, it really helps if you know the many faces of your enemies. They got their war faces, so you better show them yours!
3. Study the Enemy
Some old dude from an ancient civilization once talked about knowing your enemies and knowing yourself. But this is actually quite important!
If you pay real close attention to the Shrooms you’re fighting, they all look very different. Some of them are bigger than the others, some have caps, some are round, some crawl while others float, you get the idea. They’re all out to get you, but they each have their own ways of doing it. If you wanna get them good, you have to pay attention with how they attack!
Take for instance, the red-capped Shrooms. These jerks like to pack a spreader-type gun that shoots three projectiles at once. The projectiles fly at you with a fast speed but also fan out slowly. The fanning out is a way for you to get through their shots without getting too much damage. Timing and getting through the shots should be your priority.
Another example we can point out for your future missions are the nasty gray Shrooms. They’re armed with sniper rifles that come with laser sights. Talk about unsubtle, right? The gray punks think they’re so smart but we know you’re smarter! When the laser sights are trained on you, they’ll narrow, signaling that they will fire soon. If you can dodge the sights before they narrow, you’ll be pretty safe.
Lastly, a less-predictable example would be the blue bug-eyed Shrooms. These Shrooms are dangerous not because of how they shoot at you but what they shoot. Instead of green blobs of acid or spore projectiles, these Shrooms fire blue, bouncing orbs. The orbs themselves are quite dangerous because of their trajectories and if you can’t pay attention to that, you’ll be dead! Watch your back at all times when fighting these suckers.
Taking out these Shrooms as priority targets could make any room you enter a breeze. But be careful not to underestimate their companions! Focusing on these Shrooms alone without killing the small fry first, especially if there are a lot of them, could be suicide, so plan your attack accordingly!
One thing you can do to ensure total Shroom annihilation is to get your Battle Mods to work well together. Here’s how you do it!
4. Pick Mods That Complement Your Playstyle
Having a bunch of Mods is great, but only having those that work together will make you a super soldier!
What do we mean? Well, if you have all sorts of Mods like grenades, Death Explosions, bullet mods, extra jumps and the like, you’ll be great at performing all around. But that’s about it, soldier, you’re an all-arounder. No specialty, no proficiency, nothing. In other words, it’s like having your priorities scattered all over the place. You could get stuck at a boss and have your butt handed to you on a silver platter! Instead, how about working on having Mods that work well together?
Imagine this: if you focus greatly on getting Damage Ups, Reload Speed, and Clip Size, you’ll be able to shoot more, score more damage, and kill Shrooms faster in a short amount of time! This is because you focus purely on one thing and that’s the overall damage output of your gun. The same can be done if you pack yourself full of grenade-related Mods: Jump Grenades, Death Grenades, Death Explosion, the works! You’ll be in your own action movie by the time you get to extraction!
Don’t spread yourself out too thin. Getting the right Mods for you should perfectly suit the way you play. But this also means pinning down your own strength as a fighter! If you think you can wing it, though, don’t let us stop you. We just know that it’s a lot more practical to invest in Mods that match. Just be warned that Mod rolls are completely randomized. You are given the choice to reroll them using Gems, but you may spend these at your own risk!
Just so you can get a hint on what to focus on, try paying attention to the color of the mods you encounter:
- Blue — Movement mods. These mods help with the way your character moves as well as keeping their distance from the enemy.
- Red — Offensive mods. Mods that fall under this color specialize in improving overall firepower or clip size. Some of the stat-increasing mods can be stacked together if you have more than one.
- Green — Defensive mods. Getting any of these mods will turn your hero into an unstoppable wall of armor. Though they are few, they can be used multiple times.
- Purple — Combat mods. The mods here will make sure you wreak havoc on the battlefield. They also make your gun shoot really neat things, too!
Here’s a table showing examples of some of the mods you are likely to encounter on any of your sorties:
| Movement Speed — Increases player's movement speed. | Extra Jump — Player can jump more times. | Stomp — Player causes damage to Shrooms when jumping on them. | Dodge — Increases the chance of receiving no damage from bullets when hit. |
| Damage Up — Increases bullet damage. Has a "Big" variant. | Chain Shot — Bullets bounce among enemies. | Reload Speed Up — Reduces time player takes to reload the gun. | Double Barrel — Adds an extra bullet fired simultaneously per shot. Can be upgraded to Triple Barrel. |
| Max Health Up — Increases the total amount of health of the player. | Power Shield — Periodically gives the player a shield that absorbs damage. | Defense Up — Decreases the amount of damage incurred by the player. | Life Steal — Restores a small amount of health each time an enemy is killed. |
| Death Explosion — Enemies explode and damage other nearby enemies upon death. | Fire Bullets — Bullets ignite enemies and deal damage over time. | Death Grenades — Upon death, enemies drop grenades that can damage other enemies. | Plasma Lance — Generates a plasma lance from the player’s gun that damages enemies that get close. |
Though, if you still can’t hack it, maybe your old duds might need to be replaced with some new ones. Heck, how about throw in a new gun while you’re at it?
5. Hunt for New Equipment or Upgrade Current Equipment
Sometimes, your old gear could use a little polish.
Think of all the holes it has from getting spewed on by acid or being shot at by those crazy snipers. An armor full of holes can’t keep you safe. You might as well be wearing a vest made of Swiss cheese! What we’re really trying to say is that maybe if things aren’t working out for you, it should be a good time to go hunting for newer, better gear.
Before we discuss this further, your gear is divided into 6 different slots:
- Weapon —Your best friend.
- Armor — Your second best friend.
- 2 Gadgets — Two neat things that are powered by science. They each can give different stats.
- Drone — A little robot buddy that helps you in battle.
- Marker — Something that shows you which part of the stage got you stumped.
With regards to weapons, we can all safely say that we’ve all got different preferences inside. You’d probably prefer an assault rifle whereas your buddy would rather tote a sniper rifle. That’s okay, and that’s what makes this fun! What should matter to you, however, is that you’re comfy with whatever you’re wielding. Sure, each gun may be used depending on the situation, but if you know how to use your gun well, then it’s best that you own it. Here’s a brief look at a few of the gun types available in-game:
- Assault Rifle
Rate of Fire: High
Reload Speed: Moderate
Clip Size: Large
Default Mod: Fire Bullets
Recommended Mods: Bullet Bounce, Chain Shot, Crit Rate Up, Damage Up, Headshot, Reload Speed Up, Lightning Bullets, Piercing Bullets, Poison Bullets, Reload Speed Up
Behavior: A powerful automatic weapon. Deals consistent damage towards all enemies shot by it and sets them on fire by default.
- Carbine
Rate of Fire: Moderate
Reload Speed: Moderate
Clip Size: Moderate
Default Mod: Crit Rate Up
Recommended Mods: Chain Shot, Clip Size, Crit Rate Up, Damage Up, Death Explosion, Death Fire, Death Grenades, Death Lightning, Death Poison, Double Barrel, Fire Rate Up, Headshot, Piercing Bullets, Reload Speed Up
Behavior: Your starter gun. Fires high-speed single-shot bullets that have increased critical hit rate. Perfect for isolated targets as well as taking out immediate threats.
- Shotgun
Rate of Fire: Moderate
Reload Speed: Moderate
Clip Size: Moderate
Default Mod: Life Steal
Recommended Mods: Bullet Bounce, Chain Shot, Damage Up, Defense Up, Dodge, Double Barrel, Max Health, Piercing Bullets, Plasma Lance, Power Shield, Stomp
Behavior: Fires bullets that fly in a fan-shaped pattern. Each individual bullet deals its own amount of damage, so maximizing this damage output requires you to fire at the enemy up close.
- Sniper Rifle
Rate of Fire: Slow
Reload Speed: Slow
Clip Size: Small
Default Mod: Piercing Bullets
Recommended Mods: Bullet Bounce, Crit Rate Up, Damage Up, Double Barrel, Death Explosion, Death Fire, Death Grenades, Death Lightning, Fire Bullets, Fire Rate Up, Headshot, Poison Bullets, Reload Speed Up
Behavior: Accurately fires high-velocity shells that pierce through multiple enemies.
- Submachine Gun
Rate of Fire: Very High
Reload Speed: High
Clip Size: Large
Default Mod: Bullet Bounce
Recommended Mods: Damage Up, Double Barrel, Chain Shot, Crit Rate Up, Headshot, Diagonal Shots, Fire Bullets, Piercing Bullets, Poison Bullets, Reload Speed Up
Behavior: Sprays a torrent of bullets on the enemy at high speed. Small clip size, so reloads are frequent. Great for crowd control since the bullets bounce off walls.
A variety of guns also means that you can mix and match different pieces of gear with others, especially if you think you like the bonuses they give you. Ever want to heal yourself better in a fight? Try the Medic Armor instead of the regular Flak Armor! But again, getting gear ain’t always that easy.
The best way you could do this, especially if you can’t win at your current level, is to play previous levels. Let’s say that the Frozen Fringe might be a bit too tough for you at the moment. The best way you can deal with it is to not go to it, but to return to Puffball Gorge. You can do so by tapping the World button on the lower right while at the main menu.
Continuously playing a previous level could get you multiple new items and it’s going to be even better if you come back toting a new gun. If all else fails, you can try attempting the events and earn a new gun for yourself (more on this very soon).
Moreover, you’ll not just be hunting for new gear, you’ll also be gathering materials to strengthen ones you already have! The upgrade system here requires you to pick up parts specifically made for the gear you need. For example, your trusty carbine can only be upgraded with carbine parts and nothing else.
Upgrades are expensive, but it’s all quite worth it because your overall performance is what should matter. Feel like you’re getting hit too much or dying too often? Upgrade your armor. Not killing Shrooms fast enough? Upgrade your gun. Common sense always wins the fight, soldier!
Lastly, you also have a means of increasing the rarities of your items if you happen to have duplicates. This is through a new technology called fusion where you take 3 identical gear pieces of the same rarity and fuse them together to form a better, stronger version. To simply put, if you have 3 submachine guns that are all of the common rarity, fusing them all together would make a new submachine gun of the uncommon rarity.
If you think you’ll need reinforcements for the war effort, there’s always trying to find other neat stuff by attempting events!
6. Attempt Events
Events are special missions that come from all over the planet.
Think of it as receiving some secret intel that points you to a location somewhere that gives you some valuable assets to further make your arsenal feel deadlier. In layman’s terms, this is where you can get a ton of loot! Though, it really depends on the day of the week. Yeah, the intel flow’s got a schedule and it’s something we can’t control. But what we can do is be ready for when we need these!
About the loot that the events drop, these completely vary depending on which day you choose to play on. Most, if not all, of the time, events give you parts that you can use to make your gear and your favorite heroes better. For most events, a first-time clear will guarantee you a piece of gear specifically for the day you participated in.
For example, if you play an Assault Annihilation on Tuesdays and you’re lacking an assault rifle, you’ll get one if you complete the event that day. If this isn’t a secret mission, we can also call it a form of “special training”. Jump in, shoot Shrooms, get parts, gear, or hero tokens, get stronger. Got it? Good.
The best part about these events is that they’ve got alliterative appeal for convenience! The schedulers must’ve had a really fun time coming up with these, especially since it could be pretty handy to new troops. Do note that each of the following events happening on the same day are accessed separately:
- Mercenary Monday/Carbine Carnage — Do you hate Mondays, soldier? Not Warhog; it fuels his rage. Jump into this event if you want to make him stronger. It drops Mercenary tokens. Meanwhile, Carbine Carnage drops carbine parts and also significantly boosts the damage of the carbine when you use it during this event.
- Terran Tuesday/Assault Annihilation — Everyone’s friend, Gus, and our secret operative, Odessa, would often need their training on Tuesdays since Terran tokens drop from here. If you’ve got yourself an assault rifle, then this is also the day you can use that rifle to inflict extra damage on the Shroom menace.
- Wrench Wednesday/Shotgun Surgery — It’s the busiest day for everyone in our engineering department because Crosshair could get his upgrades. Wrench Wednesday’s drop Robot tokens and it’s also the day where using shotguns is ideal. The Shrooms better run!
- Tribal Thursday/Submachine Symphony — The likes of Saga celebrate days like this because of the Tribal token drops. If you want to run and gun at the Shrooms, your submachine gun will be overclocked for the day.
- Fanged Friday/Sniper Showdown — Bring out the Beasts! This day is when Beast tokens drop, so heroes like Yezo and Raffa would be pretty happy if you brought them some tokens. It’s also the quietest of days in the week, so the Shrooms don’t move as much, a perfect opportunity for you to bring your sniper rifle and cause some serious damage.
- Coin Collector/Gadget Galore/Drone Strike — These happen on the weekends. If you happen to need more money or more parts for your gadgets or drones, these are the events for you. Give them a go! This is also a great event to attempt if you don’t have a drone yet!
Make no mistake, soldier, any hero of your choice can participate in any of these missions. Just because you have only Gus doesn’t mean you can’t go for a Wrench Wednesday. If you have Crosshair unlocked, doing a Wrench Wednesday could help him greatly. In the meantime, because Gus is your starter, you might have to prioritize Terran Tuesdays.
The tokens you get from these events aid in making your heroes stronger. Collecting enough of these will prompt you for an upgrade in the Loadout screen. Once you’re there, and your hero’s eligible for an upgrade, tap the upgrade button beneath them and you’ll be giving them more health and an even greater chance of survival. Don’t pass this up!
R&D has informed us that we also have the means to turn our enemy’s weapons against them. You can do this by performing some trials!
7. Complete Trials
After you finish a mission, is it really all there is to it? No it isn’t, especially if you’re going to attempt some trials!
Trials are a means to revisit older missions but with a twist! Most of the time, the twist that trials come with involves making the enemy stronger than they were before. Bosses would show up more often, but it’s all worth it because of the prizes you can get in the end. You know what that means, soldier; you’ve gotta bring your best gear here and make sure you win, otherwise you won’t get any Spores!
“But wait a minute,” you say, “Aren’t Spores part of the Shrooms?” That’s correct, but it’s also a means for us to make you stronger. You see, whenever you try to upgrade your skills in the Skill Tree (which we’ll talk about quite soon), there are better, stronger skills that you can unlock. These skills can only be specifically unlocked using Spores; you can’t get them any other way.
Each trial has 3 difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. Easy rewards you with a Spore, medium with gems, and hard with both a Spore and gems. Be warned that these are no joke; each and every trial is a mission unlike you remember it, especially the bosses. They might have new attacks or even new friends that you didn’t know they had. Look out!
Now that we’ve mentioned the Skill Tree, it’s time we talked about this.
8. Visit the Skill Tree Often
Sometimes you’ll need some extra training to keep yourself on your feet.
Memorization and getting in tune with your reflexes is one thing, but it will really help to get yourself some new skills. Having these should give you a better edge. You can do this by leveling up the Skill Tree.
The Skill Tree, located in the main menu, allows you to give yourself a boost in different stats. You’ll survive longer, hit harder, dodge enemy fire, and more. Think of these as Battle Mods, but they don’t get disengaged after battle. That’s right, soldier, any skill you get from the Skill Tree is permanent, and it carries over to any hero you have currently equipped!
You’ll also notice that it has two branches: one on top and the other at the bottom. The skills you obtain on top cost coins, whereas the ones at the bottom cost spores (as we’ve mentioned earlier). Although the bottom branch is more difficult to gain, the upgrades here are more powerful.
However, they can only be obtained when you have reached the specified level they’re under. This means that you’ll need to have the top branch upgraded up to a certain degree first before you’re eligible to upgrade the lower branch. It’s kinda complicated, but we know you’ll get used to it!
If you still feel like you need more supplies for the war effort, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
9. Finish Quests for Extra Rewards
A war without a mission is hardly a war at all.
Think about it; if our only objective is to “kill ’em all”, we’d be losing troops to the Shrooms on a daily basis. There would be no special tactics or maneuvers to perform and the Shrooms would most likely bolster their forces faster than we could see. This is why objectives are important. In your case, you’ll always have a set of quests!
Quests are like little objectives that you can complete whenever you’re out there performing your duties. Every day, you are given a set number of quests that you can complete, which will fill a bar up below the quests interface. The bar filling up will open up supply boxes with rewards you can use at your disposal.
All of the quests range from a variety of objectives. Some of them involve upgrading, others involve playing through the campaign, and a few involve watching ads for extra energy. If you complete all of the quests within the day’s time limit, or at least fill the bar up to full, you’ll receive the biggest box at the very end. Try doing this every day!
Eventually, you’ll run into items that look like hearts. These are extra lives. When should you use them? We’ll tell you!
10. Use Your Extra Lives Wisely
We hate to break it to you, soldier, but your existence is a lie. You’re actually in a mobile game called Autogun Heroes.
Now don’t get discouraged to fight for us; this war of ours is very real to us and we still need your help! The reason why we need you here is because, as it is with many video games, you have the uncanny ability to use extra lives.
In our game, extra lives look like gilded heart-shaped objects that you can use each time you fall in battle. When you do, you’ll get up and be able to fight back like it’s no one’s business. Though, you can only do this once per mission, since you get sent back to base the second time you fall.
That said, when’s the best time to use extra lives? Well, let’s keep it simple: when you’re halfway through the mission. Whenever you play through a mission, you will see some numbers on the upper left of the screen. These numbers indicate how far into the mission you are. Most missions will have 20 parts, some 30, and others 10.
We recommend using your extra lives if you ever fall in battle if you’ve gone past the half point. For instance, if you are playing a mission with 20 segments, use an extra life after you’ve fallen past 10 or so. If you incur too much damage before that, we recommend starting over. You’ll save on extra lives for when you really need them.
This mission is top priority. The best way to deal with the Shrooms is to hit them hard and hit them fast! Most importantly, you’d might as well remember what you’ve learned from reading this intel:
- Dodge enemy fire. The only thing separating you from being in the field and in a grave is a face full of acid!
- Got yourself in a hail of enemy fire? Find cover immediately!
- Familiarize yourself with the enemy, especially with how they look or how they fight. It’ll help you single out powerful targets.
- Mods should complement each other. Picking too many different Mods could make things hard for you.
- New equipment makes your missions easier. Having a selection of guns will also help broaden your horizons for strategy!
- Events give you some great loot, especially if it’s a day when you’ll need specific gear upgrades! Don’t forget that these also help make your heroes stronger!
- Trials are great practice and reward you with Spores; a special currency used to unlock powerful skills in the Skill Tree.
- The Skill Tree is where you will often find passive bonuses to make any of your characters stronger. Use it often!
- Let quests guide you when you’re lost. If you need some extra funding, that’s all you need to do!
- Extra lives should be used sparingly. Never use them if you die early in a level. Use them instead if you’re halfway or about to finish a level!
And that concludes our beginner’s guide, or briefing, in this case, for Autogun Heroes! Make some Shrooms dead! Over and out, trooper!
Are you a veteran of the Shroom wars? Do you have a hefty kill count on these fungal fiends? Have you gone through many missions with little to no difficulty? Share your intel with everyone else in the comment section!